Danielle Labbé considers a century of change to the settlement of Hòa Mục – a community that underwent a rapid transition from rural village to urban neighbourhood. Through extensive research in the community, Labbé studies not only the changing lives of villagers, but also the state regulations and territorialization projects that drove these changes on the outskirts of Hanoi, and the early urban changes in the decades that preceded the reforms and continue to influence the area’s urbanization.